This invention relates to the production of a dry binder product which when added to potato solids and formed into appropriate shapes for freezing, may be thereafter reheated in a conventional household toaster, microwave oven or conventional oven. The potato solids may be specially treated to reduce oil absorption during frying and subsequent oil drip when reheated. In a preferred embodiment, the invention comprises the addition of the dry binder to potato shreds which are formed into hash brown potato patties, and subsequently reheated in a pop-up toaster.
As convenience foods become an ever-increasing portion of our daily diet, food manufacturers, and in particular, potato processors, are continuing to search for products which are susceptible to quick and convenient preparation as a breakfast accompaniment. Breakfast is the last of the major meals to experience significant product development in prepared foods. With the exception of pop-up toaster pastries, there has been relatively little incursion by convenience foods into the homeprepared breakfast market. Therefore, there is a significant incentive to provide consumers with convenient products susceptible to rapid preparation.
Hash brown potatoes have most often been prepared for home use either by frying shredded fresh or cooked potatoes or frozen hash brown patties in a skillet or on a griddle. While it is certainly possible to prepare fresh hash brown potatoes, it certainly is not convenient or quick and few people have been willing to undertake the process. Therefore, most hash brown consumption has involved reheating frozen hash brown patties in an oven or in hot oil in a skillet. The increasing popularity of microwave ovens has prompted the development of frozen hash brown patties intended for reheating in a microwave oven. While neither of these methods involves the degree of preparation associated with fresh hash brown potato patties, it is either quite messy (in the case of skillet preparation), time consuming (in the case of oven preparation), or results in a product having relatively high oil levels (on the order of 10% to 20% oil). Therefore, consumers have been forced to "pay a price", in terms of calories, in return for the convenience of frozen hash brown potatoes.
As a means of overcoming these, and other, difficulties, a frozen hash brown potato patty was disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,419,375, commonly assigned with the instant application, and incorporated by reference herein. In the U.S. Pat. No. 4,419,375, a hash brown potato patty intended for reheating in a conventional household toaster was disclosed. A process was disclosed wherein a cooled or frozen natural potato binder containing gelatinized, retrograded starch, was finely divided to rupture the potato cells containing the gelatinized starch. Therefore a non-sticky natural potato binder was formed which held together potato shreds to form a potato patty. The patty was thereafter deep fat fried and frozen for toaster reheating.
While the process of the U.S. Pat. No. 4,419,375 provided a product which could indeed be reheated in a pop-up toaster, three very significant problems where observed in the process. Firstly, in order to retrograde the amylose content of the starch in the potatoes, it was found that the potatoes should be held at temperatures below 50.degree. F. until the necessary reduction in soluble starch occurred as a result of the retrogradation. A sixteen hour hold time at 50.degree. F. was required, or proportionately shorter periods of time at lower temperatures. Secondly, the amount of "oil drip" was found to present a significant, and potentially dangerous, problem. "Oil drip" in this context refers to the amount of oil from a previously deep fat fried and frozen potato patty which drips out of the frozen patty upon reheating in a household toaster. Because such toasters utilize conductive heat from heating elements which are at approximately 1200.degree. F. (649.degree. C.), any highly flammable substance which is in close proximity to such elements raises the possibility of fire. The ignition temperature of most vegetable oils, such as those used in the frying of hash brown potato products, is approximately 700.degree. F.(371.degree. C.). Therefore, any significant oil drip inside a conventional toaster raises the specter of fire, either immediately or after a build-up of oil drip over a period of time. In a pilot plant evaluation of various binders disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,419,375, average oil drip during toasting, in milligrams, averaged from 142 mgs per patty to 990 mgs per patty (see example 7). Thirdly, because the U.S. Pat. No. 4,419,375 process used potatoes having a relatively low solids content, and because the solids content of the frozen binder added thereto was not sufficient to raise the total solids content to the desired 21-24% ranges it was necessary to partially dry the potato shreds. Such predrying produced a sticky, hard-to-manage mass.
Various other prepared frozen potato products have been suggested for toaster preparation. U.S. Pat. No. 3,634,105 disclosed a toaster hash brown potato patty utilizing fabricated potato shreds made from potato granules. A frozen toaster french fry product made from a dough comprising a potato base, water, oil and high amylose starch is disclosed in U.S. patent number 4,135,004. The amylose constituted almost 15% of the total nonfat solids of the product, and therefore would not thoroughly gelatinize until heated above 130.degree. C. Finally, toaster french fries have been made and consumer tested according to U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,007,292 and 4,238,517. As with the product of U.S. Pat. No. 3,634,105, these products were withdrawn from the market because of high toaster drip, and reportedly, a number of fires resulting therefrom.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,597,227, Murray et al., discloses an amylose coating material for application to potato products for deep fat frying in order to enhance the appearance, texture and taste characteristics of the resulting products. The potato products to be fried are coated with from about 0.002% to about 0.02% of the amylose product.
A processed potato chip snack, comprising dehydrated potato products and water, having a moisture content of 25%-70% and heated to a temperature sufficient to effect a conversion of retrograded amylose, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,830,949. When heated, the retrograded amylose is at least partially converted to its original soluble form. The moist product may then be either directly sheeted and fried into a potato chip-like snack, or dried to a stable moisture content for subsequent frying. Such subsequent drying must be accomplished before the amylose fraction again retrogrades and becomes insoluble. U.S. Pat. No. 3,751,268, Van Patten et al., discloses a process for preparing deep fat fried products, such as french fried potatoes, wherein the potatoes are coated with from 0.1% to 1.5% of an unmodified ungelatinized high amylose starch having an amylose content of at least 50%. It is said that the resulting product, when fried, absorbs from about 10% to about 20% less oil than conventionally fried products. Oil pickup was shown to be from 7% to about 11% of the finished product.
Various methods for preparing hash brown potatoes have been disclosed in the prior art. U.S. Pat. No. 2,748,814, to Rivoche, describes a method for making frozen food patties in which the comminuted food particles are coated with an edible cellulose gum which gels when heated to hold the potato pieces together. A similar thermal binding system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,399,062, to Willard et al., in which fabricated french fried potatoes are produced. Likewise, U.S. Pat. No. 3,410,702, to Frank, describes a process for adding dehydrated riced and diced potatoes for making hash brown potatoes to be subsequently fried in a skillet. The reconstituted riced potatoes contain sufficient free amylose to hold the reconstituted diced potatoes together when fried.
Therefore, there is a need for products and processes which will permit the easy and economical processing of potato products into hash brown potato patties, which when fried, frozen and subsequently reheated in a household toaster, result in a potato patty simulating those made from freshly shredded potatoes while reducing the oil drip which can lead to disastrous toaster fires. The present invention provides a method for preparing a dry binder material, which when added to fresh potato shreds, provides a hash brown potato patty having reduced oil uptake upon frying, and reduced oil drip upon reheating.